Bad Girls/Jim Fenner

Jim Fenner
Bad Girls
Actor	Jack Ellis (I)
First Appearance
Series Billing

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Basic Information

Jim Fenner is, on the face of it, a caring, professional and experienced prison officer. Like Sylvia Hollamby, he trumpets his experience and "jailcraft" as a common-sense alternative to woolly ideas coming from senior management. But as the series goes on, his role is increasingly manipulative and malevolent. He has sexual affairs with a number of the prisoners including Shell Dockley, Rachel Hicks, Tina Purvis and Maxi Purvis. During the series, he commits a number of serious criminal offences: sexual assault, rape, GBH, assisting in the escape of prisoners, running a prostitution ring and even murder - but he nearly always manages to cover his tracks.

Character History

During the first and second season, Fenner has an on-and-off relationship with Shell Dockley, who tries hard to manipulate him but doesn't really succeed. She then starts sending poison pen letters to Fenner's wife Marilyn purporting to be from Nikki Wade revealing Fenner's affair with Dockley. After this doesn't succeed, Dockley acquires a mobile phone and starts calling Marilyn, broadcasting the sound of the two of them having sex in Dockley's cell. This leads to the breakup of Fenner's marriage. Also during the first and second season, he becomes the leading antagonist to new Governor Helen Stewart. When she discovers that Fenner has been having sexual affairs with Dockley and Rachel Hicks, she attempts to prompt Governing Governor Simon Stubberfield into action, but Jim Fenner manages to wriggle out of the charges.

At the end of season two, following Sylvia's party, Dockley smuggles a broken wine glass back to her cell and stabs Fenner in the chest with it during sex. This turns into a hostage situation which Dockley doesn't really plan out well. She finally demands a few packets of cigarettes and chocolate in return for handing back the broken glass and gets chucked into segregation. Fenner just survives. This brings Marilyn back in support of him for a few weeks, although the divorce still happens. Dockley is punished ruthlessly by Sylvia, initially by physically assaulting Dockley while she in on segregation, and then by transferring her to the "muppet wing" to become cellmates with "Mad" Tessa Spall.

Despite being stabbed by Dockley, he later agrees to help her escape during the filming of the TV documentary, and both Dockley and Denny escape. Shaz Wyllie comes along but injures herself during the getaway and promptly gets sent back to Larkhall. Fenner and some of his fellow prison officers discover, despite rumours of Dockley's death, her working in Amsterdam's Red Light District as a stripper in a saucy cabaret act and promptly arrest her. Once Dockley returns to Larkhall, Fenner pimps her, offering up her services for hand-jobs to other prison officers. When Dockley finally gives birth to her son, Fenner cruelly alleges that Dockley tried to harm her baby as a cover story for fellow officer Colin Hedges trying to get sex off Dockley. He quickly gets Dockley transferred to a mental institution and places the child with Social Services.

After the divorce goes through with Marilyn, Fenner moves into Prison Officer accommodation, but then manages to get Neil Grayling, the new Governing Governor, to rent him a room. All goes well until Grayling starts coming on to Fenner, which prompts Jim into freaking out. Grayling continues to push Jim's boundaries about homosexuality until Jim moves out. Grayling marries Di Barker in a marriage of convenience.

During the first season, Fenner takes cash from Yvonne Atkins to organise private conjugal visits with her husband Charlie. This cosy agreement later turns nasty as Atkins photographs Fenner taking bribes from her husband and uses this to prevent Fenner from pushing up the price of these visits. After this, the relationship between Fenner and Atkins turns very sour, leading to a mutual dislike and constant attempts by each of them to pin things on them. Fenner frames Atkins for the murder of Virginia O'Kane. When Colin Hedges starts having a relationship with Atkins, Fenner uses knowledge of Hedge's heroin habit to force him to frame Atkins. Fenner ends up killing Atkins by locking her in Larkhall's hanging cell, through which Atkins had tried to escape.

Fenner later agrees to a memorial service for Atkins down in the hanging cell. While this goes on, many prisoners take their revenge on Fenner: Julie S makes some poison candles; Darlene Cake and Janine Nebeski fire a poisoned thorn using a straw as a blowpipe and Julie J stabs Fenner in the neck with an ice dagger. In addition, Neil Grayling spiked Fenner's drink during a farewell party in his office. The Police don't manage to pin Fenner's murder on any of the prisoners, but do arrest and charge Di with his murder.